Unique and Bizarre Shrimps for Your Tank

You have seen some of the most beautiful and colorful shrimps in my article entitled “Pretty Aquatic Pets: 10 Most Beautiful Shrimps“. Now it’s time to see some-unique-looking and peculiar species of shrimps.

Fairy Shrimp

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This creature may look strange but it is a shrimp. Fairy Shrimp often appears in vernal pools, pot holes and other ethereal pools. It lives in fresh or saltwater but do not live in oceans or seas. It is well-adapted to living in arid areas where water is present for only part of the year.

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Its eggs will survive drought for several years and hatch about 30 hours after rains fill the pools where they live.

Triops longicaudatus

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This odd-looking shrimp is the Longtail Tadpole Shrimp. It is also known with other common names like American Tadpole Shrimp and Rice Tadpole Shrimp. It is a freshwater crustacean that resembles a miniature horseshoe crab. Triops refers to its three eyes and longicaudatus refers to the elongated tail structures.

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It is considered a living fossil because its basic morphology has changed little in the last 70 million years. It is also one of the oldest animal species still in existence.

Talitrus saltator

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This bizarre looking shrimp of Europe is commonly called Sand Hopper. Its typical ‘hopping’ movement gives rise to its common name. This movement is produced by a flexion of the abdomen. The shrimp does this by standing on its legs and suddenly extend its abdomen out from under its body. It can thus leap several inches into the air, although without any control over its direction.

Triops cancriformis

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This unusual-looking shrimps is called Horseshoe Crab of Europe should not to be confused with horseshoe crabs. It is considered an endangered species of tadpole shrimp in the UK and in many other European countries. In captivity they commonly grow up to 6 cm or 2.4 inches; however, in the wild they can achieve sizes of 11 cm or 4.3 inches.

Artemia Salina

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This is a species of brine shrimp that can tolerate fluctuations in the salinity of water. It can live in water having much more or much less salt content than normal seawater. The resilience of this creature makes it ideal test samples in experiments. The females can produce fertilized eggs that can remain in a dormant state, in cysts, for a number of years until they are placed in water.

Triops australensis

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Triops australiensis or T. australiensis is a species that is indigenous to Australia. This awesome-looking shrimp has been known to grow up to 6 centimeters in captivity.

Pariambus typicus

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This Skeleton Shrimp is one of the most unusual-looking shrimp. It has a threadlike slender body which allows it virtually to disappear among the fine filaments of seaweed, hydroids and bryozoans. It accentuates its adaptive form and coloration by assuming an angular pose, resembling that of the fronds among which they live. It remains motionless for long periods of time while waiting to ambush its prey. Females of some Skeleton Shrimp kill the males after mating using venom injected by a venomous claw.

Triops granarius

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Triops granarius is a Tadpole shrimp that lives on every continent of the world except the Americas. Males and females are easy to recognize – the male is black and the female appears a muddy brown color.

Artemia salina x nyos

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Those tiny creatures on the tank are Sea-Monkeys. They originate in salt lakes and evaporation flats and are members of the phylum Arthropoda now called Artemia salina x nyos. In the UK in the 1970s they were marketed under the name “Artful Arties”

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Hope you enjoyed this. Thank you!

See also

Pretty Aquatic Pets: 10 Most Beautiful Shrimps

Brightly Colored and Unique Aquarium Fish